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Science & Mathematics

The Museum's collections hold thousands of objects related to chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, and other sciences. Instruments range from early American telescopes to lasers. Rare glassware and other artifacts from the laboratory of Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, are among the scientific treasures here. A Gilbert chemistry set of about 1937 and other objects testify to the pleasures of amateur science. Artifacts also help illuminate the social and political history of biology and the roles of women and minorities in science.

The mathematics collection holds artifacts from slide rules and flash cards to code-breaking equipment. More than 1,000 models demonstrate some of the problems and principles of mathematics, and 80 abstract paintings by illustrator and cartoonist Crockett Johnson show his visual interpretations of mathematical theorems.

This concave metal grating probably belonged to Samuel Pierpont Langley, director of the Allegheny Observatory and professor of astronomy at the Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh). It probably came to Washington in 1887 when Langley became the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

It is marked "plate polished and corrected by J. A. Brashear Pittsburgh, Mar. 1886 Radius 64 Ruled by Schneider on Rowland engine Johns Hopkins University April 1886 - lines to in temp-".

This is one of the earliest concave metal gratings made on the ruling engine devised by Henry A. Rowland, professor of physics at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. According to Rowland, it "was made for Professor Langley's experiments on the ultra-red portion of the spectrum, and was thus made very bright in the first spectrum. The definition seems to be very fine, notwithstanding the short focus and divides the 1474 line with ease." The reference here is to Samuel Pierpont Langley, the director of the Allegheny Observatory and professor of astronomy at the Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh). Langley became the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1887. The grating measures 4 inches x 4.5 inches, and is marked "Rowland's concave grating Baltimore, May 12, 1882. 3610 lines to inch, radius 64".

Henry A. Rowland, the first professor of physics at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., produced a photographic map of the solar spectrum using concave diffraction gratings made with his own ruling engine. The first edition, published in 1886, covered the region from wave-length 3100 to 5790. The scale of these maps was much greater than the maps of Angstrom or Rutherfurd, and they showed many more spectral lines. This set has five of the original seven plates. It came from Columbia University.

This seems to be a half-shadow saccharimeter with a polarizer of the sort described in 1881 by Ferdinand Lippich, a professor of mathematical physics at the German University in Prague. The vertical circle reads 120 - 0 - 120; it is graduated to 30 minutes and read by magnifiers.

This brass Gregorian telescope dates from the last quarter of the 18th century. It has a metal primary mirror 2⅜ inches diameter, and a smaller secondary that is adjusted by the rod that runs along the tube. The stand is adjustable in altitude and azimuth. The “G. Adams N˚ 60 / Fleet Street London” signature could refer to George Adams or to his son of the same name, both of whom worked at this address.

Charles A. Young, the professor of astronomy at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University), acquired this diffraction grating in 1878. The speculum metal plate measures 3 inches square overall, with the grating measuring 1.75 inch square. It is marked: "May 28, 1878" and "16,560 spaces" and "8648 per inch" and "Manf. by D. C. Chapman with Mr. Rutherfurd's Engine." Daniel C. Chapman was the mechanic who operated the ruling engine designed by Lewis M. Rutherfurd.

This is one of the earliest gratings made by Lewis M. Rutherfurd, and one of three that the pioneer astrophysicist, Henry Draper, acquired in the fall of 1872. The glass plate measures 1.5 inches square overall, with the grating measuring 1⅛ inches square, and is marked "12960 to the inch Oct. 16, 1872 L. M. Rutherfurd."

This is one of the earliest gratings made by Lewis M. Rutherfurd, and one of three that the pioneer astrophysicist, Henry Draper, acquired in the fall of 1872. The glass plate measures 2 inches square; the grating surface is 31/32 inches wide; the grooves are 13/16 inches long. The plate is marked "6480 per inch 90 L. M. Rutherfurd."

This clear plastic semicircular protractor is divided by twenties and marked by two hundreds from 0 to 3,200 and from 3,200 to 6,400. A pinhole is at the origin point. The interior is labeled: ANGULAR MILS; 8016738. This protractor was item no. FAO-44. Felsenthal Instruments Company manufactured it for the U.S. Army about 1958.

The Felsenthal Instruments Company was the leading supplier of mathematical instruments to the U.S. Army Air Force and the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, particularly during World War II (when the firm was known as G. Felsenthal & Sons). After the company ceased operations in approximately 1976, it provided a large sample of its products to the Smithsonian.